Bible Lexicons

There are many aspects of this important word which lie outside our Immediate purpose, but its use as a technical term in pagan religion to denote a ";secret";or ";secret doctrine";known only to the initiated, which they are not at liberty to disclose, may be briefly illustrated. Thus from the inscrr. we have OGIS 331.54 (Pergamon—mid. ii/B.C.) διεταξάμεθα δὲ ἀκολούθως τούτοις καὶ περὶ θυσιῶγ καὶ πομπῶγ καὶ μυστηρίων τῶν ἐπιτελουμένωμ πρὸ πόλεως αὐτῶι ἐν τοῖς καθήκουσι καιροῖς καὶ τόποις, ib. 528.13 τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ κοινοῦ τῆς Βειθυ [νίας να ]οῦ τῶν μυστηρίων ἱεροφάντ [ην, ib. 540.21 (end i/A.D.) Ἀτταβοκαοὶ οἱ τῶν τῆς θεοῦ [Matris Magnae] μυστηρίων μύστ [αι ἐτεί ]μησαν τὸν [ἑαυτῶν φίλον καὶ εὐεργέτην, and ib. 721.2 (iv/A.D.) ὁ δᾳδοῦχος τῶν ἁγιωτάτων Ἐλευσῖνι μυστηρίων [Νικαγόρας. In the sepulchral epigram Kaibel 588.4 a priest is described as—ἐκτελέσας μυστήρια πάντοτε σεμνῶς, cf. ib. .7 τὰ βίου συνεχῶς μυστήρια σεμνά, where the adv. συνεχῶς is used for an adj. From the papyri we may cite P Leid Wiii. 42 (ii/iii A.D.) ἄρξαι λέγειν τὴν στήλην καὶ τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ : cf.ii. 12 ἄτερ γὰρ τούτων ὁ (θ)εὸς οὐκ ἐπακούσεται, ἄλλως (ἀ)μυστηρίαστον οὐ παραδέξι (=ε)ται, ";nam sine his deus non exaudiet, alioqui (non) initiatum non admittet"; (Ed.). The word seems to refer lo a material object in P Leid V x. 19 (iii/iv A.D.) δότε οὖν πνεῦμα τῷ ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ κατασκευασμένῳ μυστ [ηρ ]ίῳ. In an interesting love-charm from a Berlin papyrus (P Berol 9909), now edited in Aegyptus iv. (1923), pp. 305–8, the unusual formula .50 κεῖται παρὰ σοὶ τὸ θεῖον μυστήριον occurs, apparently with reference to the fact that some of the hair of the beloved was attached to the papyrus, which had been inserted in the mouth of the mummy (whose νεκυδαίμων was invoked to aid the lover). In an incantation to the Great Deity in P Lond 46.110 (iv/A.D.) ( = 1. p. 68) the words occur—ἐγώ εἰμι Μουσῆς (l. Μωϋσῆς) ὁ προφήτης σου ᾧ παρέδωκας τὰ μυστήριά σου τὰ συντελούμενα Ἰστραήλ. See also the magical P Par 574.2477 (iv/A.D.) διέβαλεν γάρ σου τὰ ἱερὰ μυστήρια ἀνθρώποις εἰς γνῶσιν. Another ex. of the word, which we owe to the courtesy of Dr. Victor Martin, is afforded by an unedited Genevan papyrus, unfortunately mutilated at the most interesting point, where the writer assures his readers that if, in priority to extraneous pleasures (ὑπερόρια ἡδέα), they auspiciously perform the mysteries, things will afterwards turn out well for them—εἰ ] γὰρ ἐπ᾽ ἀγαθοῖς πρότερον τῶν ̣ .[. ο ]υσων τὰ μυστήρια τελέ [σουσι ] ὕ [σ ]τερ [ο ]ν αὐτοῖς συμβαίν [ει. . . . : a sort of pagan equivalent of Matthew 6:33.

The Biblical usage of the word follows different lines and is traced with great fulness by J. A. Robinson Ephesians, p. 234 ff., where in particular it is shown hat in its NT sense a mystery is ";not a thing which must be kept secret. On the contrary it is a secret which God wills to make known and has charged His Apostles to declare to those who have ears to hear it"; (p. 240). So far then as this word is concerned we are not prepared to find any ";intimate"; connexion between Paulinism and the mystery-religions : cf. H. A. A. Kennedy St. Paul and the Mystery-Religions (London, 1913), C. Clemen Der Einfluss der Mysterienreligionen auf das ättests Christentum (Giessen, 1913). and for a different view W. Bousset Kyrios Christos, Göttingen, 1913, p. 125 ff., R. Reitzenstein Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, Leipzig, 1910. Important discussions on the word will be found in E. Hatch Essays on Biblical Greek, Oxford, 1889, p. 57 ff., H. von Soden ZNTW xii (1911), p. 188 ff., and T. B. Foster AJ7 xix. (1915), p. 402 ff. : cf. also S. Cheetham’s Hulsean Lectures on The Mysteries Pagan and Christian, London, 1897. For the μυστήριον κοσμικὸν ἐκκλησίας of Didache xi. II, explained by Harnack on lines of Ephesians 5:32, cf. MGr μυστήριον = ";sacrament,"; used of marriage : see G. F. Abbott in The Nineteenth Century, 1908, p. 653 ff., who shows that the modern wedding week in Macedonia fits most closely the Eleusinian Mysteries.

[Supplemental from 1930 edition]

For a magical use of τὸ θεῖον μυστήριον, see A.D. Nock J. Eg. Arch. xi. (1925), p. 158.